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Windows Phone 8 introduced the ability to take screenshots on Windows mobile without having to install a special app. You can take a screenshot of any app, including games and video players. Screenshots are saved to an easy-to-access album in your Photos app. The process changed a little bit with the upgrade to Windows Phone 8.1.

Steps

Before You Start

1

Check your phone version (if unsure). The process for taking screenshots changed between Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1. This was done to allow devices that don't have a Windows button to still be able to take screenshots. If you don't know which version you have, you can quickly check.

Tap "Settings" → "About" → "More info". The "Software" entry will display which version you are running. You cannot take screenshots on Windows Phone 7.5 or 7.8 without a third-party app.

Method1

Windows Phone 8

1

Open the screen you want to take a screenshot of. You can take a screenshot of virtually any screen, from a map to a message conversation and anything in between.[1]

2

Press and hold the Windows and Power buttons simultaneously. After a moment, you will hear a click sound indicating that you captured the screenshot. The screen may also flash.

If you're using Windows Phone 8.1 and press this combination for the first time, you'll be prompted to use the new method.

3

View your screenshots. Your screenshots are saved to the "Screenshots" album, which you can find in the Photos app. They are saved in PNG format, and will be synced with your computer when you connect your phone to it.

Method2

Windows Phone 8.1

1

Navigate to the screen you want to capture. You can capture anything on your screen, from a game to a video.

2

Press and hold the Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously. You'll hear a click when the screenshot has been captured, and the screen will flash. This was changed to allow devices not made by Microsoft to take screenshots in Windows Phone 8.1.[2]

Note: This also works for Windows 10 Mobile.

3

Find your new screenshots. Like in Windows Phone 8, your screenshots are saved to the "Screenshots" album in your Photos app. Connect the phone to your computer to sync the screenshots.

References

Article Info

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 11 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 176,766 times.